Page 9 of Wait For Me

They hadn’t been planning on getting rid of me. My father had made a contingency plan – which had been for me to marry one of the club’s brothers. The man hadn’t been blind, so he knew I had a crush on Jared, and he thought that since we were close in age, we would make the best match. He hadn’t taken into consideration that Jared was close to my age and nowhere near ready to settle down yet, though he felt pressured to accept my father’s demand of marriage in order to keep me locked into the MC family.

Life would have been much simpler had they just worked harder to change their by-laws. It wasn’t like there was a single member in their chapter who would shoot it down. Then again, it was something that had to be changed on a national level, and according to my brother, my dad had tried to bring it to the table. Whatever. I knew my father loved me. Still, there were so many other options than simply marrying me off to someone who didn’t want me.

Normally, I would have shrugged off the botched proposal, the best friend who betrayed me, and the man who didn’t really want to be tied to me. The problem was the looks I got from everyone else. I couldn’t take the pity. It was bad enough when serving them at the diner. Going to the clubhouse again was completely out of the question.

So, I spent the year earning cash, and working on fixing up my new baby. My only expenditure for the year was the old 1982 Plymouth Gran Fury that one of the old timers from the club sold to me. He was retired from the MC, so I didn’t realize he had been affiliated when I responded to an ad in the local paper for the car. When he found out I was the President’s daughter, he sold the thing to me for $500. It was a rust bucket, so it probably wasn’t worth much more than that, except for the fact that it ran like a damn dream.

The man took care of that car the way most bikers take care of their motorcycles – like it’s the most important thing in the world to them.

Kip did all the body work and painted my baby a glossy black with hot pink brush strokes down the sides. The interior was all me. I left everything basic black except the hot pink fuzzy dice that hung from the mirror, the steering wheel cover and floor mats that matched, and the new stereo with full-color display and hot pink lighting. My Beauty went from a forgotten rust bucket of a hooptie ride to a gorgeous beast with a V-8 engine that growled when she started. Beauty was sexy as all hell in her own way, and I was so damn proud of her.

“Now that you got your car fixed up, you can slow down on the round the clock work that you’ve been doing, maybe come to the club cookout next weekend.” That was my uncle’s not so subtle way of telling me that they were no longer requesting my presence. My father must have demanded that I finally attend an event in person.

I glanced up from where I stood under the hood, checking the oil, like a good little car owner. “I’m not sure I can make that.”

“Why the hell not?”

I sighed, dropped the hood on my Beauty, and turned to look my uncle in the eye. “I haven’t just been saving for the car. I’ve been saving for a trip.”

“A trip?”

My head bobbed in an awkward anxious movement that made my uncle suspicious if his narrowed eyes were any indicator.

“What kind of trip?”

“Road trip,” I offered up, being vague as hell.

“Road trip?” He questioned again. “Who is going on this road trip with you and where are you headed?”

I tipped my head to the side, studying my uncle who sounded more like a father figure as he gave me the third degree. “It’s just me and Beauty,” I said while giving my baby a little love tap on her hood. We’re going to take a drive, explore some of the country, see some states, do exciting things, and figure out the next step.”

“Star, I don’t like the sound of this trip. It feels a lot more like looking for a permanent destination than going for a joyride with the plan to come home.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Look, things aren’t easy for me here,” I admitted. “Everyone knows what went down, thanks to that fucked up proposal video and to Ashlynn’s big mouth.”

My uncle waved his hand in the air, dismissing those things. “Girl, you have to get over that shit. It’s been a year.”

“Yup, it has. I’d love to get over it, if only the guys from the MC didn’t give me looks of pity every time they come into the diner. And I won’t even get started on all the women who come up to my job to tell me about what they got up to with the man whose proposal I turned down.”

“Who did that?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped back. “How about you ask dipshit who he’s been fucking each weekend, then give it two to three days and they’re in my face about it while I’m trying to work. Those bitches never leave tips either, so they’re stealing time and money from me while gloating about something I’ll never have because I would never put myself in the position that they’re in.”

“Damn right you wouldn’t.” Uncle Mack’s shoulders slumped forward as he moved closer and then leaned his ass on the hood of my car. I didn’t bother to tell him to get off my Beauty because I knew he wouldn’t listen. If only they respected my car as much as they did their own motorcycles. “I didn’t realize you were still catching that kind of shit for what went down. Why didn’t you tell me, Kip, or your dad?”

“And why would I do that? So that you guys could prolong Jared’s second prospecting time even more?”

My uncle chuckled at that. “Bagger deserves it. The little prick obviously didn’t learn a lesson since he’s still up to his old tricks.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “If you want to punish him because he’s a bad brother, then fine. Don’t do it on my account though, and certainly don’t do it because he’s doing the same shit some of the older members regularly do on the weekends.”

“Told your dad you were exposed to too much shit living at the clubhouse,” he grumbled.

“He meant well.” It was always my excuse for my dad’s decision to make us live there after my mom’s death.

“You have a plan? Where you headed?” He finally asked after some thoughtful contemplation.

“Not really, just going to head wherever the wind blows. Don’t worry, I plan to check in and let you know I’m safe.”

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